Last Saturday I was rear-ended on Central Expressway in Dallas. Traffic was stop & go, the Honda Civic in front of me stopped, I stopped, the 2002 Suburban behind me did not stop. The suburban driver had no driver's license and no valid insurance, bummer. Bigger bummer: yesterday, the body shop informs me the frame is ruined and will need to be replaced for approx. $13K. My 4runner was pretty pristine, 25K miles with KDSS. Anyone had experience replacing the frame on a late model 4runner? Advice?
2012 trail edition needs new frame
- Thread starter LONGARCH
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Hopefully the driver of the suburban is caught in a fire and slowly burns but never dies and lives the rest of their life in a melted state plagued by agonizing pain and is ridiculed by society and is later robbed in their own home, sat naked on a tree stump with a railroad tie slammed through their nut sack and then pushed backward. Sorry to hear about the accident. Did the piece of sh*t get arrested?
LandCruiser
New member
Get insurance to total it.
If that fails, sell it to be biggest ******* car dealer in town and let them worry about it.
If that fails, sell it to be biggest ******* car dealer in town and let them worry about it.
spitfiremkiii
New member
Sorry to here this, I hope you are ok. I'm skeptical of what the shop says. From what you say the impact speed speed could not be that high. I know the Suburbans are heavy but damaging the T4R's frame? If the frame is ruined my guess is the body will be twisted. How did the shop determine the damage and the body is not warped?
BettysNephew
New member
If there is that much damage, the shop is very likely doing you a favor and making it easy to total it out. It will be worth more in your pocket as a total than as a trade later with the damage reduction on the title. I agree that it is too bad as it sounds like you had a nice truck but sometimes things that seem bad are a blessing in the long term.
Apex Overland
New member
A full frame replacements is not that hard. its a new frame from Toyota. I did a couple when I was a bodyman at a Toyota dealership. a few suvs, a couple of those being 4runners, a few trucks, a couple of those being the rust issues. all it takes for a frame replacement is a "tore" or "ripped" frame rail, a bent one can be straitened or section, if done properly.
ill give you a phrase to tell your insurance, "I do not/will not feel safe in that vehicle".
they will total it, new vehicle to you, it goes to auction and gets scrapped in a junk yard more than likely.
pics would help, id imagine that if the frame is bent the body/unibody is probably messed up a lot too.
ill give you a phrase to tell your insurance, "I do not/will not feel safe in that vehicle".
they will total it, new vehicle to you, it goes to auction and gets scrapped in a junk yard more than likely.
pics would help, id imagine that if the frame is bent the body/unibody is probably messed up a lot too.
wcc7777777
New member
Sounds pretty harsh. Sorry about your 4Runner man, that's a bad situation you got stuck with.
BlackWorksInc
New member
It is possible as the rear frame rail terminates exactly behind the plastic bumper skin, if they had a tow hitch that would also assist in tweaking the frame since that Suburbun's bumper is probably at the same height as the 4Runner's so its be a direct impact.
Toyota just replaced the frame on my '03 4Runner due to rust. I've only had it back for a week, but so far I'm very pleased. The truck seems very tight. It hasn't driven this well for many years.
If the insurance company will pay for a frame replacement, go for it.
FrontRange4Runner
New member
So you get a new frame and the labor to put it on....Awesome. You also have KDSS, an extremely expensive system to repair - with very few people who have experience doing so. Was that added into your estimate? And do you want people whom have no idea what their doing repairing that system? If it goes out 9 months from now who is to blame? This makes no senses to me. You need to get them to total it out or you need to make a massive diminished value claim. Your vehicle will never be worth anything near what it was before. Would you buy a newer vehicle that had $13K+ in damages? You have insurance and that is what it is for.
Jetboy
New member
FWIW, I'd do everything you can to force your ins. co. to replace it. No matter how well a body is repaired, it's never as good as an undamaged one. Body work will never match and age similarly to the factory paint. They cannot replicate the original process once the plastics are on because you cannot heat the body to the same temps they do at the factory. So you won't have the same product on parts of the body, and in 5 or 10 years it'll become more obvious. The panels put on by a body shop often aren't galvanized like Toyota's panels are, so you have higher risk of rust etc. And Toyota does the whole parts - like body structure - at once, so the welds are all coated. Your body shop isn't going to do the same. Bottom line is that no body shop will ever fix you car "as good as new".
If you do get it fixed, you'll still lose thousands in value due to it being repaired. So if you do go that route, be sure to make a diminished value claim as well.
If you really want to keep it - have it totaled by the insurance company, then find it at auction (look at co-part.com for auctions in your area). Buy it and fix it. I'm guessing you'd come out ahead.
I was happy to see my state pass a new law this year that if a cop identifies an uninsured vehicle they are required by statute to seize the vehicle and impound it. The officer cannot let it go with just a ticket. Hopefully more states will follow and this will help cut down on uninsured vehicles.
good luck
If you do get it fixed, you'll still lose thousands in value due to it being repaired. So if you do go that route, be sure to make a diminished value claim as well.
If you really want to keep it - have it totaled by the insurance company, then find it at auction (look at co-part.com for auctions in your area). Buy it and fix it. I'm guessing you'd come out ahead.
I was happy to see my state pass a new law this year that if a cop identifies an uninsured vehicle they are required by statute to seize the vehicle and impound it. The officer cannot let it go with just a ticket. Hopefully more states will follow and this will help cut down on uninsured vehicles.
good luck
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